Bruise
by Flaming Kitten
Summary: Cupcake wore her bruises with the utmost pride that day.


She stands across from her opponent, bruised and sweating, waiting for him to make the next move.

He has a maybe 5 inches on her, probably a few extra pounds, and definitely more experience under his belt.

This is, after all, Cupcake's first real fight.

Sure, she's thrown the occasional fist, even received a few thumps along the way. But she's never been in a drawn out fight before. Never faced an opponent that had a clear advantage over her.

But she's got a purpose this time around. She's fighting for someone else. She can't back down.

She **will not** back down.

Besides, his blows don't hurt as much she thought they would. In fact, she doesn't really feel them. Maybe it's the adrenaline, or the anger, or the raw determination to win. Or maybe she's just really thick skinned. Whatever it is, it's working; she won't realize how badly she's hurt until she gets home and her mother nearly faints at the sight of her.

Her opponent hesitates.

**What he sees**: A chunky girl, dressed in a pink jacket, purple tutu and combat boots. Short, messy brown hair plastered to her face with sweat. Thick eyebrows furrowed in concentration over small, almond colored eyes. Her left cheek is swelling up and turning an ugly purple color. There's a faint smear of red on her lips- he's pretty sure he knocked out one of her teeth. In other words, he's given her a pretty good beating. So why isn't she turning tail and running away in tears? Why is she still standing there, fists raised and ready for another round?

He starts second guessing himself. Thinking that maybe he's made a mistake somewhere. Maybe it was when he called her an ugly cow? Or maybe when he _accidentally_ tore out a few pages from the boy's book of mythical creatures. Really, he had just been doing the kid a favor- you couldn't just go around saying you believed in stories like Santa and the Tooth fairy at his age and expect to be left alone. Granted, maybe shoving him had been a tad too much, but it was just a harmless joke.

As he evaluates the decisions he's made in the last half hour, Cupcake moves.

She charges in and delivers a solid punch to his gut, knocking the wind right out of him and sending him to his knees.

In an instant, the fight is over.

She grabs him by the front of his shirt and pulls him close, so they're nearly nose to nose.

"Mess with my friend again, and I'll beat your face into the pavement." She looks him dead in the eye as she snarls out her warning, then lets him go. He scrambles to his feet and turns to leave.

"I'll… get you… for this." He tries to sound threatening, but he's wheezing too hard, and his voice cracks.

Cupcake doesn't bother to respond. She can see the anger and humiliation in his eyes, but there's something else too. Something she's grown accustomed to seeing in when kids her own age see her coming.

Fear.

He's afraid of her, and for once, this is pleasing. She knows that fear will keep him away. As long as he's afraid of her, he'll leave Jamie alone.

Speaking of which, the stout brunette turns around to check on him.

He's clutching his tattered book to his chest, and gawking at her.

Cupcake stops short, anxiety twisting her gut into knots. What if she's just scared Jamie away too?

"You okay?" She hunches her shoulders in an attempt to seem as small as possible.

And suddenly, the first believer of one Mr. Jack Frost explodes into motion, bouncing up to her and exclaiming,

"That was sooo cool! You totally kicked his butt! Wait till everyone hears about this-"

The knots loosen and Cupcake breathes a sigh of relief. Jamie's words wash over her, making her feel happy- more than that, ecstatic! The feeling will only intensify when a few minutes later, they meet up with the rest of the group, and Jamie proceeds to reenact the fight. Pippa will ask if she's alright and if she needs anything for the bruises. The twins will slap her on the back and express the wish that they could have seen the fight for themselves. Monty will ask if she'll be his bodyguard from then on. Cupcake will grin and assure all of them that if anyone tries to mess with them again, they'll have to answer to her.

And at the end of it all, right when they all go their separate ways to get home, Jamie will turn to her and say a simple, "thanks for helping me out, Cupcake."

All of this will get to her, piercing a dark and hurting part of her that she only ever acknowledges at night, when she's alone and no one can see her cry. Of course, she tells none of this to Jamie or the other kids. Instead, she simply waves him off with a, "No problem." and heads home.

Later that night, when she goes to brush her teeth and gets a good look at her swollen cheek and a gap in the bottom row of teeth that hadn't been there earlier in the day, she'll smile.

Because for the first time in her young life, she feels proud to be herself.


End file.
